Carole and Martin Chilcott, directors of C & C Carpets, were among the Wellington Business Association members learning how to recognise and deal with heart attacks at a session provided for the WBA by Chris Curtis of Akesis first aid training.

In groups of three members found themselves kneeling on the floor and giving CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a lifelike dummy before moving on to learning how to use a defibrillator on the casualty.

“Heart attacks are still a massive cause of death in the UK and the first minutes after they occur is when workmates or people nearby can do the most good,” Chris told the group. She went on to explain how to tell the difference between angina and a heart attack, and also some of the less well-known symptoms of cardiac arrest.

“Even if you’ve had some first aid training it’s very easy to forget some of the key basics,” said WBA chair Pete Watts, thanking Chris for her talk and demonstration.